Written Answers Friday 19 December 2008

Scottish Executive

2014 Commonwealth Games

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will initiate discussion with Camelot regarding the production and sale of scratchcards to raise funds for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Government has consistently objected to the diversion of £150 million lottery funds from Scottish good causes and the Minister for Communities and Sport has written to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with a bid to support the return of the funds. A dedicated scratchcard/game is one potential mechanism for the return of the funds.

Broadcasting

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussion or contact it has had with the (a) UK Government and (b) Office of Communications regarding public service broadcasting.

Linda Fabiani: The Scottish Government has regular contact with the UK Government and Ofcom on a number of broadcasting issues. I recently met with Lord Stephen Carter, the new UK Government Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting and public service broadcasting was one of the issues discussed. The Scottish Government has also submitted a response to Ofcom’s Second Public Service Broadcasting Review – Phase 2: preparing for the digital future consultation. The response can be accessed via the Ofcom website at:

  http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/psb2_phase2/responses/scottish.pdf.

Burial and Cremation

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the use of wooden memorials for graves is permitted.

John Swinney: It is up to each local authority to determine the rules for the burial grounds it owns or manages. The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 section 112 allows local authorities to make rules regulating the use of land they own or manage. This includes cemeteries.

Class Sizes

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, based on the legally enforceable class size maximum, what the average capacity of state schools is in 2008-09.

Maureen Watt: The latest available information on the capacity of publicly funded mainstream schools (primary and secondary) comes from the school estates survey which was published in September 2008. In April 2008 the average capacity of publicly funded mainstream schools was 363. Information on the capacity of special schools was not collected. Guidance for authorities on determining school capacities was issued by the Scottish Executive in Circular 3/2004 and can be found on the Scottish Government website using the following link.

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/20528/50013.

Communities

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it provided to the Scottish Islamic Foundation for its national conference in Glasgow on 6 December 2008 and whether this was additional to the funding it provided for Islamfest.

Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Government did not provide any additional funding to the Scottish Islamic Foundation for its national conference in Glasgow on 30 November 2008. All funding provided by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Islamic Foundation is subject to normal funding conditions and is used for the purposes set out in the grant award.

  I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15005 on 3 September 2008, which provides a breakdown of the Scottish Government funding awarded to the Scottish Islamic Foundation. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Communities

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S3O-5175 by Kenny MacAskill on 11 December 2008 ( Official Report c. 13360), whether it will answer the specific issues raised of whether any ministers were involved in discussions with Mr Osama Saeed or other representatives prior to a decision being made on an allocation to the Scottish Islamic Foundation from the race, religion and refugee integration funding stream and, if so, which ministers.

Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15009 on 3 September 2008. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

  No additional ministerial meetings between Mr Osama Saeed or other representatives of the Scottish Islamic Foundation took place prior to the decision to award SIF funding from the Race, Religion and Refugee Integration Funding Stream 2008-11.

Economy

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism will speak in debates on the Scottish economy.

Jim Mather: I have spoken fully and consistently in Parliament about issues relating to the Scottish economy and my own portfolio and will continue to do so in future.

Entitlement Cards

Keith Brown (Ochil) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many national entitlement plus one card holders there are, broken down by local authority area.

Stewart Stevenson: The issuing of National Entitlement Cards is the responsibility of each local authority.

  Based on the information available to Transport Scotland, the number of valid National Entitlement Cards with companion entitlement in circulation at 3 December 2008, broken down by local authority, is set out in the following table.

  

 Local Authority
Category of Disabled PlusCompanion
Eligibility Visually Impaired Plus Companion


 Aberdeen City
 3,976
 1,275


 Aberdeenshire
 1,488
 398


 Angus
 629
 127


 Argyll and Bute
 1,264
 196


 City of Edinburgh
 9,030
 1,173


 Clackmannanshire
 536
 61


 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
 150
 20


 Dumfries and Galloway
 1,148
 423


 Dundee City
 2,373
 401


 East Ayrshire
 2,435
 229


 East Dunbartonshire
 1,094
 137


 East Lothian
 1,672
 230


 East Renfrewshire
 935
 104


 Falkirk
 1,324
 286


 Fife
 12,973
 869


 Glasgow
 17,484
 1,441


 Highland
 1,833
 558


 Inverclyde
 2,219
 203


 Midlothian
 1,618
 232


 Moray
 689
 184


 North Ayrshire
 2,911
 357


 North Lanarkshire
 6,587
 515


 Orkney Islands
 205
 20


 Perth and Kinross
 924
 244


 Renfrewshire
 3,534
 362


 Scottish Borders
 838
 222


 Shetland Islands
 219
 20


 South Ayrshire
 2,003
 257


 South Lanarkshire
 5,723
 580


 Stirling
 580
 132


 West Dunbartonshire
 2,265
 237


 West Lothian
 2,974
 307


 Totals
 93,633
 11,800

Justice

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many CCTV cameras there were in each of the last 10 years, broken down by local authority.

Fergus Ewing: No central records have been kept of this data over the last 10 years. No instruction has been given by the Scottish Government for this data to be so held.

  The strategic review of public space CCTV in Scotland, which is expected to conclude shortly, will include a landscaping element which would provide us with the figures for public space only CCTV in Scotland covering a single year.

Justice

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how regularly on average a CCTV camera requires to be replaced.

Fergus Ewing: The information requested is not held centrally. However, the answer will depend on many variables including the type of camera, the technology employed, the location of the camera, and other factors.

Justice

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it costs to install a new CCTV camera.

Fergus Ewing: The information requested is not held centrally. However, it would depend on many variables including the type of camera, the technology employed, the location of the camera, and other factors.

Prison Service

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) male and (b) female (i) prisoners and (ii) prison places it anticipates there will be in each of the next five years.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Scottish prison population projections for each year from 2007-08 to 2017-18 are published in the November 2008 issue of the Scottish Government’s Statistics Publication Notice, Crime and Justice Series. The on-line version may be accessed at:

  www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/11/21110618/0.

  The projected figures do not separately identify the number of male and female prisoners.

  The current design capacity of Scottish prisons is 6,624. Planned developments will result in the following design capacity levels:

  

 End of Year
 Design Capacity


 2008-09
 7,440


 2009-10
 7,577


 2010-11
 7,577


 2011-12
 8,277

Scottish Futures Trust

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive why information on the appointment of the Chief Executive of the Scottish Futures Trust, described by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth as a company that is owned by ministers ( Official Report c. 10601), was not available on the Scottish Government website.

John Swinney: Where a government body conducts its own recruitment, vacancies are not advertised on the Scottish Government website. The Scottish Futures Trust is conducting its own recruitment for the post of its chief executive.

Correction

The reply to question S3W-18438 which was originally answered on 10 December 2008, has been corrected: see page 5002 or http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/pqa/wa-08/wa1218.